Primary care rebounds on Match Day

After a slight dip in the 2012 Match, the share of fourth-year U.S. medical students opting for residencies in primary care specialties rose again in 2013. But physician organizations and medical schools warned that rising student interest in primary care is not enough to avert projected physician shortages and does not make up for the lack of graduate medical education slots available due to a cap on federal funding of such residency positions.

The number of U.S. seniors entering primary care residencies fell by less than 1% in 2012 but saw an increase of 5.5% in 2013. A total of 6,327 seniors opted for GME positions in family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics. Nearly 700 more residency positions of all kinds were offered this year, yet the share of U.S. students choosing primary care still rose by 1.3% to 38.6% in 2013.